What do you want to tell the world? Terrorists are sitting in our Parliament, asks Sushma Swaraj

BJP on Thursday held protests in various parts of the country to demand Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde 's resignation for alleging that BJP and RSS were behind Hindu terror.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said, "Saffron and terror are antonyms. The Home Minister should take back his words and apologise... Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should apologise and the PM should sack Shinde."

Asking Shinde to not cross his limits, Sushma Swaraj said politics can be practised to the extent that it benefits the Congress or even harms the BJP but "should not be taken to a level where national interest is affected".

She alleged at a rally at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi that Congress always distances itself from controversial comments made by its own government leaders.

Swaraj said that instead of attacking Pakistan for running terror camps against India, the Home Minister has targeted the main Opposition party in the country.

"You have hurt national interest at a time when Pakistan is coming and beheading our soldiers. You are not attacking Pakistan but attacking the main opposition party," she said about the Home Minister.

"What do you want to tell the world? There might be terror camps in Pakistan, but here the main Opposition party runs a terror camp! Do you want to say, terrorists are sitting in Parliament? The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha is heading a terror organisation?" she asked.

The BJP leader said she had called up the National Security Adviser after the beheading of an Indian soldier and told him to inform the Prime Minister that the opposition would fully support any strong action was taken against Pakistan.

The new BJP President Rajnath Singh, who also addressed the rally, declared that if Shinde is not sacked, his party will continue to press for its demand in both Houses of Parliament in the forthcoming session.

The party also said that this government had given visa to Pakistan's women's cricket team at this juncture.

Swaraj said Shinde has alleged RSS and BJP are involved in terror activities but when Congress leaders Mahipal Maderna, Gopal Kanda and Suresh Kalmadi were sent to jail, BJP never called Congress a criminal organisation.

Singh said Congress, whose leaders refer to the JuD Chief as "Hafiz Saeed Saheb" and earlier to al-Qaeda head as "Osamaji", was not serious about fighting terror and saving this country from the menace.

"Shinde's comments have tarnished the image of India across the world.... Sonia Gandhi's silence on the issue shows that she perhaps thinks her votebank will be strengthened by it... Shinde will have to go. No force can save him," Singh said.

Protests against Shinde's remarks at the recent Jaipur conclave of Congress were held at various places in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.